CURRICULUM GUIDE Mechanization in : The Farmer’s Dilemma by Janet Brown

for the Indiana Historical Society Indiana Experience You Are There 1924: Tool Guys and Tin Lizzies This is a publication of the Indiana Historical Society Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center 450 West Ohio Street Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269 USA Teacher Resource available online: www.indianahistory.org

Cover Image: “George Greenlee Ford Garage” (Indiana Historical Society, Digital Image Collection, Item ID P0114_G_AR12)

Copyright 2010 Indiana Historical Society All rights reserved Except for copying portions of the teacher resources by educators for classroom use, or for quoting of brief passages for re- views, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without written permission of the copyright owner. All inquiries should be addressed to the Public Programs Division, Indiana Historical Society. This lesson coordinates with the You Are There • Science 4.1.7––Discuss and give 1924: Tool Guys and Tin Lizzies component of the examples of how technology has Indiana Experience at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick improved the lives of many people, Indiana History Center. In this experience, visitors although benefits are not equally are invited to step back in time to 1924 to visit available to all. the re-created Liniger brothers’ plumbing, tin- °° Grade 5 ning, and roofing shop in Hartford City, Indiana. Auto mechanics from the George Greenlee Ford • Social Studies 5.4.4––Trace the devel- dealership next door worked in this space through opment of technology and the impact an agreement Greenlee had with the Linigers. of major inventions on business pro- The Linigers conducted most of their work in ductivity during the early development homes and businesses around town, leaving the of the United States. space available for use by Greenlee’s mechanics. • Science 5.1.6––Explain how the solu- The curriculum is intended to provide historical tion to one problem may create context for life in Indiana and, in particular, life other problems. in Blackford County and Hartford City, Indiana, in the 1920s. The lesson may be used to prepare °° Grade 7 students for a visit to You Are There 1924: Tool • Science 7.1.10––Identify ways that Guys and Tin Lizzies or it may be used as a follow- technology has strongly influenced up to a visit. In addition, the historical context the course of history and continues and themes will be relevant to classroom instruc- to do so. tion even if a visit is not possible. You Are There 1924: Tool Guys and Tin Lizzies opens March 20, °° Grade 8 2010, and will remain open until • Social Studies 8.4.6––Relate tech- February 27, 2011. nological change and inventions to changes in labor productivity in the Overview/Description United States in the eighteenth and In this lesson students will read a primary source nineteenth centuries. describing the benefits of switching to the tractor for farming and then debate the merits of making •• National Standards (National Council for the the change. Social Studies) °° I Culture Grade Level • Compare similarities and differences in Elementary (grades 4 and 5) and middle/interme- the ways groups, societies, and cultures diate school (grades 6, 7 and 8) meet human needs and concerns. Academic Standards °° VII Production, Distribution, •• Indiana Standards and Consumption °° Grade 4 • Explain and illustrate how values and beliefs influence different • Social Studies 4.1.11––Identify and economic decisions. describe important events and move- ments that changed life in Indiana in the early twentieth century.

1 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society °° VIII Science, Technology, and Society °° “1919 Oilpull Tractor and 1923 Oilpull Tractor at the Indiana State Fair,” 1952 • Describe examples in which values, (Indiana Historical Society, Digital beliefs, and attitudes have been Image Collection, Item ID influenced by new scientific and P0321_FOLDER1_2_TRACTORS_ technological knowledge. AT_STATE_FAIR Social Studies/Historical concepts °° “Tractor Pulling Plow,” no date (Indiana Agriculture, mechanization, and early twentieth- Historical Society, Digital century life Image Collection, Item ID M0820_BOX2_FOLDER3_TRACTOR_ Learning/Instructional Objectives AND_PLOW) Students will: °° “Horse Drawn Plow/Grader,” 1922 (Indiana Historical Society, Digital •• Use primary sources to gain an appreciation Image Collection, Item ID for the costs of farming. P0130_P_BOX27_FOLDER3_82236) •• Understand how technology affected farm °° “Farm Equipment,” 1924 (Indiana His- families in the early twentieth century. torical Society, Digital Image Collection, Item ID Time Required P0130_P_BOX27_FOLDER3_87697)­ One class period Background/Historical Context Materials Required Until the late 1800s, work on farms was accom- • • Paper plished largely through the energy provided by •• Pencils humans and animals. The invention of the reaper (a machine that cut and harvested grain) by Cyrus • • Student Handout: The Rumely Oilpull Tractor McCormick in 1831 and of the thresher (a ma- •• Images from the Indiana Historical Society chine that separated the grain from the chaff and collection. See pages 6 through 11 of this ) by John A. and Hiram A. Pitts in 1837 lesson. Teacher may either print these images began an era of mechanization in agriculture. or show them to the class using a document Steam-powered tractors were developed in 1868 camera or computer. and gasoline tractors became available in 1887, but these machines were large and expensive, not ° ° “Rumely Oilpull Tractor,” no date practical or affordable for most farmers. (Indiana Historical Society, Digital Image Collection, Item ID P0321_FOLDER2_ After 1910 manufacturers began producing RUMELY_OIL_PULL) smaller tractors. Henry Ford was among the first to introduce a tractor with a smaller design. Ford ° ° “Woman with Horse and Plow,” no date had begun development of a line of tractors in (Indiana Historical Society, Digital Im- 1907. Having grown up on a farm, he recognized age Collection, Item ID M0820_BOX2_ the possibilities of the application of technology FOLDER3_WOMEN_W_HORSE_ to agriculture. He tried to convince the board of AND_PLOW) directors of the Ford Motor Company that trac- tor production would be a boom to the company. The company’s directors disagreed, however, so Ford set up a separate company, the Henry Ford

2 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society and Son Corporation, to produce his tractors. In levels of food despite labor shortages. Fordsons 1917 Ford introduced his Fordson tractor. Much went into mass production in 1918 in order to like the Model T transformed the automobile meet the demand in America and in Great Britain. industry, this tractor revolutionized the tractor Still, in 1920, there were only two hundred industry. The Fordson was the first tractor to be and twenty-five tractors in the United States. mass produced and also the first average farmers Most farmers continued to farm with horses.3 could afford to buy. This soon changed. Between 1920 and 1939, the According to one author: number of tractors on American farms increased sixfold.4 Much of this increase in tractor owner- The smaller design of the Fordson al- ship occurred in the early years of the 1920s. Still lowed the tractor to be affordable and riding the wave of prosperity created by World easy to produce. Especially important to War I, farmers purchased tractors. Many, however, that goal, the new Ford tractors lacked a kept horses for use in hauling and other tasks the conventional frame. Instead, the engine, tractor could not yet perform. transmission, and axle housings were all bolted together to form the basic struc- It was not until the introduction of the McCor- ture of the tractor. With the small size and mick Deering Farmall general purpose tractor in innovative frame of the first Fordson, the 1924 that it became possible to use tractors for tractor was well-suited for the mass pro- such things as mowing , planting and husking duction Ford had brought to the Model T. corn, threshing, hauling, and raking.5 The gen- As a result of this, the machine could be eral purpose tractor included something called a sold at a much lower price affordable to power take-off that allowed the tractor to power average farmers. Just as Ford had brought other farm implements through its engine. the car to the middle class through assem- When a farmer was able to purchase a tractor bly line production, the tractor was now and reduce the number of horses he owned, also within reach.1 it not only speeded up farm production it also The Fordson quickly captured a large share of the freed acreage for crops that would otherwise have market. By 1920 one-third of all the tractors sold been used to grow feed for the horses. A tractor in America were Fordsons.2 The popularity of the might cost two to three times what a horse did, Fordson was also helped by Ford dropping the but would yield ten times more product. A ma- price of the tractor from $855 in 1917 to $395 ture farm horse could eat the equivalent of three in 1922. acres of feed per year. Horses also required rest and daily care, while tractors could be operated World War I increased demand for tractors. The day and night without worrying about weather. A war years were a boom time for American farmers forty-acre plot would take a team of four horses since there was a high demand for food to feed fifty-five hours to till, while a tractor could do the the troops and send to the Allied nations. Fur- same in only five-and-a-half hours. Farming was thermore, when America entered the war in 1917, done at greater speed on a scale that had formerly there was a shortage of farm workers. Farm trac- tors helped to fill the gap, boosting production 3 Claudia Reinhardt, “Farming in the 1920s: Introduction,” 1 “History of Ford Farm Tractors.” SSB Tractor. http:// Wessels Living History Farm, http://www. www.ssbtractor.com/features/Ford_tractors.html (accessed livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe20s/machines_01.htm November 25, 2009) (accessed November 25, 2009). 2 Robert E. Ankli, “Horses vs. Tractors on the Corn Belt,” 4 Robert Charles Graham, “Diffusion During Depression: Agricultural History, Vol. 54, No. 1, Agricultural History The Adoption of the Tractor by Illinois Farmers,” Business Symposium: Science and Technology in Agriculture (Jan., and Economic History, Second Series, Vol. 14, 1985: 215. 1980): 136. 5 Ankli, p. 136.

3 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society been thought impossible.6 Still, tractors had their •• Show students the Indiana Historical Society’s drawbacks. They might require the purchase of images of farms and farm machines of the new plows or other equipment; they required 1920s. Students should examine the images maintenance, gasoline, and oil; and heavy tractors for methods of farming popular in the 1920s. could tear up a field after rains. They will list these methods under the “new” column of their student handout. As farm prices fell in the second half of the 1920s, and the agricultural market entered a de- •• Distribute copies of the Student Handout: pression, farmers had a difficult choice to make. The Rumely Oilpull Tractor. This handout Did the benefits offered by the tractor justify its includes an excerpt taken from Toiling and high up-front cost? Should the farmer go into Tilling the : Rumely. (Promotional literature debt to purchase a tractor during tough economic for the Rumely Oil Pull Tractor, 1912, from times? These difficult choices meant that trac- the Indiana Historical Society collection, S713. tors were more likely to be purchased by farmers M11 T6 1979, pages 11 and 26.) See pages 13 with large farms (at least 47.6 acres).7 The Great through 14 of this lesson. Depression of the 1930s only increased the dif- •• Direct students to read the passage to deter- ficulties faced by farmers and it became apparent mine how the use of new technology (the that in order to afford a tractor a farmer would tractor) would affect the farmer’s life. Students have to produce much more, often necessitating should consider crop output, the cost of a an increase in acreage. If a farmer was unable to tractor, skills, use of time, the need for ani- acquire more acreage for his farm, he would likely mals, etc. They will record these effects on the lose it. Student Handout: Farm Methods. Teachers Instructional Plan •• Instruct students to assume the role of a farmer in the 1920s and decide whether they Introduction would have chosen to purchase an expensive Introduce the lesson by helping students to recall tractor for their farm or not. Students should farming methods used during the 1800s in Amer- consider that this purchase might put them ica (for example, the plow, scythe, horses, and deeply in debt for many years. Have those oxen). On a chalkboard or dry-erase board, list students who would have purchased the trac- the old methods in a chart. (See Student Handout: tor stand on one side of the classroom and Farm Methods) Show students the 1922 image of those who would not have purchased it stand the horse-drawn plow. (See “Horse Drawn Plow/ on the other side of the room. The side with Grader,” 1922, Indiana Historical Society, Digital the fewest students will select a representative Image Collection, Item ID P0130_P_BOX27_ to state why they made this decision. Allow a FOLDER3_82236 provided on page ten of student on the other side to respond and give this lesson. reasons for their decision. Continue the de- bate, allowing students to change sides if they Procedure are convinced by the other side’s arguments. •• Distribute a copy of the Student Handout: The teacher may need to guide the debate to Farm Methods to each student. keep the important criteria under discussion.

6 Reinhardt, “Farming in the 1920s: Introduction,” p. 2. Assessment 7 Ankli, p. 144. The teacher may use a pretest to gauge prior knowledge of developments and issues in agricultural technology and mechanization.

4 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society A post-test can be used after the activity is complet- Kitchel, Thomas W. Growing Up in Indiana: ed in order to determine learning on this subject. Memories of a Hoosier Farmboy. Spring Lake, MI: River Road Publications. 1992. Suggested Modifications Explains farming techniques and the farmers’ •• The teacher may read aloud sections of Laura way of life during the 1920s. Ingalls Wilder’s books to help students recall or understand old-fashioned farming methods. Web Sites Suggested excerpts: Reinhardt, Claudia. “Farming in the Twenties.” Wessels Living History Farm and Nebraska °° Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House in the Educational Telecommunications, Interactive Big Woods, New York: Harper Trophy Media Unit. http://www.livinghistoryfarm. Publishers, 1932, chapter 11. org/farminginthe1920s.html (accessed °° Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Farmer Boy. New September 2, 2009). York: Harper Trophy Publishers, 1933, History of farming in the twentieth century with chapter 11. many primary sources and interactive features. •• Explain the threshing machine, cultivator, USDA-CSREES. “Agriculture in the Classroom.” combine, and other agricultural machines to USDA_CRESS and Utah State University. students. On its Web site, Wessel’s Living His- http://www.agclassroom.org (accessed tory Farm in York, Nebraska, offers pictures September 2, 2009). and good explanations of farming equipment Agricultural time line, virtual field trips, activi- and terms. (http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org) ties, and links to state agriculture resources. •• Students may research modern-day innova- National Agricultural Library. “History of Agri- tions in agriculture. For example, they might culture.” USDA: National Agricultural Li- study the use of airplanes, satellite imagery, brary. http://riley.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/ GPS, and computers in farming. The Farm index.php?info_center=8&tax_level=2&tax_ Industry News Web site has explanations subject=3&level3_id=0&level4_id=0&level5_ of new techniques in farming. (http:// id=0&topic_id=1032&&placement_de- farmindustrynews.com/shop-office/ fault=0 (accessed September 2, 2009). business/technology-changing-agriculture/) A list of agricultural history resources. •• Students may use artwork to show the feelings Landis, Leo E. “Indiana Farming: Yesterday and of farmers as technology becomes a larger Today.” Connor Prairie Interactive History part of their lives. Park. http://www.connerprairie.org/Learn- And-Do/Indiana-History/ Additional Resources America-1800-1860/Indiana-Agriculture.aspx (accessed September 2, 2009). Publications An article on farming in Indiana, past Halley, Ned. Farm. New York: Dorling and present. Kindersley, 2000. “Rural History Project.” Connor Prairie Interac- Outlines the history of farming including tive History Park. http://www. many detailed illustrations and photographs ruralhistoryproject.org/ (accessed of reproductions and artifacts. August 3, 2009). Conner Prairie’s collection of oral histories and photos related to Indiana’s rural history.

5 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society (Indiana Historical Society, Digital Image Collection, Item ID P0321_FOLDER2_RUMELY_OIL_PULL) (Indiana Historical Society, “Rumely Oilpull Tractor,” no date Oilpull Tractor,” “Rumely

6 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society (Indiana Historical Society, Digital ImageM0820_BOX2_FOLDER3_WOMEN_W_ ID Digital Item Collection, Society, Historical (Indiana

“Woman with Horse and Plow,” no date no Plow,” and Horse with “Woman HORSE_AND_PLOW)

7 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society (Indiana Historical Society, Digital Image Collection, Item ID (Indiana Historical Society, “1919 Oilpull Tractor and 1923 Oilpull Tractor at the Indiana State Fair,” 1952 at the Indiana State Fair,” and 1923 Oilpull Tractor “1919 Oilpull Tractor P0321_FOLDER1_2_TRACTORS_AT_STATE_FAIR

8 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society (Indiana Historical Society, Digital Image Collection, Item ID M0820_BOX2_FOLDER3_TRACTOR_ (Indiana Historical Society, “Tractor Pulling Plow,” no date Pulling Plow,” “Tractor AND_PLOW)

9 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society “Horse Drawn Plow/Grader,” 1922 (Indiana Historical Society, Digital Image Collection, Item ID P0130_P_BOX27_FOLER3_82236) 1922 (Indiana Historical Society, Plow/Grader,” “Horse Drawn

10 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society _87697) ­ Digital Image Collection, Item ID P0130_P_BOX27_FOLDER3 (Indiana Historical Society, “Farm Equipment,” 1924 “Farm Equipment,”

11 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society Student Handout: Farm Methods

OLD FARM METHODS NEW FARM METHODS

How did the use of the tractor affect farmers and farming?

12 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society Student Handout: The Rumely Oilpull Tractor Read the following passage from Toiling and Tilling the Soil: Rumely and determine how the use of technology would affect the farmer’s life. Consider crop output, the cost of a tractor, skills, use of time, the need for animals, etc. Record your ideas on the Student Handout: Farm Methods.

Toiling and Tilling the Soil: Rumely. Chicago, IL: The Franklin Co., 1979. Facsimile reprint. Originally publishedin La Porte, Ind.: M. Rumely Co., 1912, p. 11. (Indiana Historical Society, Pamphlet Collection, S713.M11 T6 1979, p. 11)

13 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society Toiling and Tilling the Soil: Rumely. Chicago, IL: The Franklin Co., 1979. Facsimile reprint. Originally published in La Porte, Ind.: M. Rumely Co., 1912, p. 26. (Indiana Historical Society, Pamphlet Collection, S713.M11 T6 1979, p. 26)

14 CURRICULUM GUIDE • Indiana Experience • Mechanization in Agriculture: The Farmer’s Dilemma • Indiana Historical Society